Author: Stephan

Golf is one of the most enjoyed sports with millions of players around the world. To
enjoy this game, a good set of golf clubs and other tools are definitely needed.
However, let’s be honest, they are quite – expensive. The game, in the first place could
cost top dollar, which is why more and more people are looking for less-expensive
ways to play – like making their own golf clubs.

DIY-ing golf clubs is not only a good way to save a load of cash but it will also give a
specialized clubs for your own playing preference. This is what we really like about it since we are all about movement and customizing the club to your swing movements.

I got this idea while checking out a blog on DIY projects at Make Cents Woodworking.
Let’s take a look at these following steps on how to make one in this post.

Step 1: Selecting the proper materials

First that you’re going to do is to select the shaft that fits your abilities, weight, and
strength. Your choices could be either steel or graphite shafts. After that, look for some
club heads and grips on your local hardware store.

Step 2: Measuring

Begin with your driver, make an assumption that one of your shafts is doing well in
your normal driving position. Mark it with pen if it is comfortable. Then further down
the shaft to the club head, make a mark 4 ½ inches. You can also test the other shafts
to measure its length and distance.

Step 3: Roughing up the shafts

Make sure that both the shafts and club heads are tightly secured. You can use a file or
sandpaper for steel shafts with sanding belt for removing the coats in graphite shafts.
After you’re finished, ream all the wire drill to make sure they are secured into the
hosels of the club heads.

Step 4: Coating process

You can use epoxy to coat the external area of the hosel and the shafts before putting
them together. Always make sure that both surface are glued.

Step 5: Glue and Harden

After waiting a couple of hours, make sure that the glues has hardened before starting
shortening your shafts. You can use hacksaw for steel shafts, on the other hand, you
can also use band saw for the chosen graphite type shafts.

Step 6: Gripping the clubs

The last step on making your own golf club is to putting grips on your club. You can
visit the local hardware store and buy a double-sided tape in order to wrap the chosen
golf shaft (whether it is steel or graphite shaft). After cleaning it with solvent grip, you
can now begin to thoroughly cover the tape with the grip solvent. In this way, it will
tighten the grip of the golf club all the way down to the shaft. Finally, adjust the grips
alignment using your hands as the solvent and the shafts could easily dried up.

Conclusion

There are many ways to enjoy playing golf without investing boatload of cash. Making
your own golf club is an easy way to do that. I hope this simple step-by-step instruction
will help you achieve a great strike and good game.

Recently I was reading an article about the swing of old time golfer Ben Hogan over on the golf blog GolfingWell. It was super interesting and it got me thinking about how we over complicate the golf swing in the modern world.

We worry about clubs and gear but overlook the basics. Today I want to talk about a basic that doesn’t even involve gear: Stretching.

For every good sports player, whether it is basketball, volleyball, swimming, or golf – fitness plays an important role in keeping their performance at its best during the match. As you can see, modern golfers are typically functional, flexible, and fit – but what is the secret?

Obviously, we all know that these players are performing workouts, conditioning programs, specific biomechanics, and strength. During a golf match, you’ll see Tiger Woods performing a pre-round warm-up.

In this post, let’s tackle the importance stretching before playing golf.

Reducing unwanted injury

Stretching before the game promotes better flexibility which could also lead to more consistent, efficient, and powerful swing. Thus, flexibility also reduces any unwanted injuries during the game. Compensation happens when a specific part of your body will have to stretch further as being restricted by another.

This could result in injury as there is a large amount of stress being pressured on certain areas. For example, if the hips back and shoulders become tight, there could be a possibility that it can alter the swing plane and overall posture.

Maintaining proper posture

Speaking of posture, pre-round warm up or stretching can help with your overall posture throughout the swing. Unable to maintain the angles of your spine could more likely to cause miss hits. This is also because postures in certain parts of your body such as hips, knees, trunk, and ankles are altered.

Additionally, stretching tight muscles groups could reduce the natural imbalances of muscles which could be present as we grow older. For example, desk-bound people tend to have tight chest muscles, weak mid back muscles, and neck extensors.

Increased circulation

If the proper warm-up is done, it will be beneficial in terms of blood circulation in the body. This is because more blood will be transported to the muscles that are being stretched. Therefore, it will improve its ability to perform as well as the ability to remove any waste from the muscle tissues.

Remember that increased and better blood flow could also increase energy production needed by the body.

Full Unrestricted shoulder turn

Proper flexibility from stretching before the match lets you control over a shoulder turn during a hit. In order to generate more power and distance, having a bigger shoulder turn is a must- and you can do it by simply stretching your shoulders and different parts of your body.

Better coordination

Stretching can increase the range of motion at the joints and allows different muscles in your body to work more effectively. Better coordination could positively affect your swings, good timing, tempo, and your balance during the game.

Conclusion:

Stretching plays an important role in keeping not only the golfer’s playing performance but for people of all ages as well. Unfortunately, as we get older, our flexibility will tend to decrease, so if you’re a golfer who is looking for different ways to maintain your best swings as you age, performing an effective and specific golf stretches is definitely a must.

The technique yes, the sensations too

During the swing, there are sensations to be felt in golf. Many times we focus on technique and not the other parts. While the basics of a golf swing can be straight forward, sometimes the other aspects are harder to get a grasp of.

Of course, we can not all feel them during the execution of this movement. On the other hand, you can experience two or three regularly. This means that swing is technically reliable. This is a must to set up a powerful game system in which we trust. The confidence in your game is most certainly the major element that will decide the score at the end of the game.

“Everyone needs to find the good feelings they feel comfortable with and stick to as much as possible on the course. “

A list of non-exhaustive sensations

Here are some of these famous sensations:

Feeling of “firmness” at the level of the last three fingers of the left hand, the ring finger and the middle finger of the right hand.

Feeling to start at the same time his arm and his left hand with his left knee (for a better take-away and a good synchronization).

Sensation to simultaneously start his left hand and the right pocket of the pants backwards (not to block the rotation of the hips at the beginning of the climb on pain of stiffening the backswing).

Sensation of the upper left arm against the torso at the beginning of the climb (for a better connection).

Sensation of “passivity” on the right side (with a right-handed man, the left side pulls from the beginning of the climb to the half-descent, from there the right side comes into play and hits against the left side and launches the clubhead through the ball).

Feeling of a left arm stretched but not stiff at the top of the backswing! We can talk about an elongated left arm.

Feeling of the left shoulder that comes under the chin and behind the ball.

Sensation of stability of the head (the axis around which one turns is a point which is at the base of the neck).

Sensation of a body weight inside the right foot at the top of the backswing with great firmness at the level of the right knee (it will keep the same bending during the whole climb).

Sensation of mobility of the thigh and hip straight.

Sensation of mobility from the bottom of the left side during the ascent and at the very beginning of the descent to start the downswing.

Sensation of a finish balancing the high hands, the line of the shoulders looking to the left, the buckle of the belt to the target and the right foot to the tip (the finish is the balance of the swing).

The example of Vijay Singh

For example, golf champion Vijay Singh systematically uses three ” sensory keys ” when he is on the course and will hit his ball:

Feeling of a complete climb

Sensation of triggering the downswingby a small blow of the hip towards the target

Feeling of good rotational animation of the pelvis in the impact zone.

Everyone must find the good sensations with which they feel comfortable and cling as much as possible to the course.

You will find in this file a series of exercises aiming to improve the control of your balls with the approaches and this whatever your level. From the starting position to the realization do not hesitate to train following my recommendations, you will be surprised of the result!

1. An ideal starting position 2. The work of the angle of attack 3. A constant engagement through the ball for a good contact 4. A coordination of the arms and thorax for the regularity 5. An associated work of the club and the body to control speed

My objective

Understand the impact of my placement on the trajectory of my ball. Position me to cause the contact that gives me the desired path: skipped or rolled.

I position myself in front of the ball to have a downward angle of attack and make it take off with retro effect.

I position myself behind the ball to get an upward angle of attack and roll it.

Position 1: I position myself in front of the ball to have a downward angle of attack and make it take off with retro effect. Position 2: I position myself behind the ball to gain an ascending angle of attack and roll it.

Setting up

My objective

I want to be able to alternate lifted and rolled balls without changing clubs (sandwedge).
To do this, I move the ball in my stance and change my balance.
Look how the difference is noticeable in the photos.

This exercise allows to feel what happens on the “tops” (and scratches) involuntary: lack of commitment, weight back …

Tip 1

Texas Wedge is also an approach technique.
This is to produce a trajectory rolled with the sandwedge.
This technique is effective when the ball is improperly positioned. It is then easier to hit the equator of the ball with the slice of the sandwedge than with the putter.

Tip 2

If you have difficulty improving your angle of attack, do not hesitate to place an alignment bar a few centimeters behind the ball. Exercising at the ground while avoiding the bar will help you find the right chipping impact position.

2. work from angle 3 of attack

My objective

Contact the ball before the ground to make it take off with a ball / grass contact .

Setting up

Hammer exercise.
An inclined club neck planted in the grass serves me as a “nail”.

Trick

I have to control the placement of my bust in relation to my ball.
If my bust backs out of my “ball”, my club comes from underneath.
The movement of my club at impact will be going up and the ball scraped or knocked …
When I realize the exercise, the “stick / nail” jumps instead of sinking into the ground!

3. Constant engagement through the ball for good contact

My objective

Accelerate through the ball to ensure good contact.
I need to master my momentum. I try to take the minimum momentum to force me to engage in rotation towards the target.
On the other hand, I have (at each swing) the image of a final position in which I must find myself when I played my shot.

Setting up

To check your ability to engage through the ball, train with two clubs held simultaneously. The end of your “long” club will
be connected to the left passer of your belt.
By turning to the target, you will find that the club stays in harmony with you. He follows you and his extension remains in front of the belt passer. The goal is to memorize this finish and reproduce it on each approach shot.

4. Arm and thorax coordination for regularity

My objective

Master my contact repetitively. The movement of my arms must be associated with that of my chest.
The rotation of the thorax on the front leg is the motor of my approach system.

Exercise

Squeeze a large balloon against your rib cage and execute your approach movement. You will notice the unity of action between the arms and the upper body. A sensation to reproduce!

Trick

When your arms dissociate from your chest, they regain their autonomy. Your shots will become imprecise, your irregular contacts and your random production …

5. Associated club and body work to control speed

My objective

Master my club speed.

Setting up

“Exercise of two parallel clubs”
This is a classic ball-free practice. Practice swinging your two clubs simultaneously while trying to make them make identical moves.

No needless wrist movements … To release your clubs in the impact zone without them colliding, you will have to keep things simple and coordinated.

5-1. Variation for good players

For the good players, the same exercise can be done with the right hand on the club and the free left hand, the box of ball remaining held between the forearms. The goal is to keep the box of balls in place and keep the hands face to face. Try, after the necessary adjustments made, 15 meters from the flag, you will be at the top!

Setting up 2

Exercise of the ball box.

My objective

Check my coordination with an exercise that gives me immediate feedback.
I tie my two forearms holding a small box of three empty balls.
My goal is to play small approaches without losing the box.
This forced me to keep my forearms face to face throughout the swing.